Pasadena, CA — Women-owned, Pasadena-based nonprofit book publishing company Red Hen Press is celebrating thirty-one years of diverse publishing. Its annual benefit gala will take place on October 26, 2025 at the Grand Venue in Los Angeles. After thirty years of hosting an annual luncheon, Red Hen Press makes the shift this year to an evening event at an exciting new venue. The fundraiser dinner will be held at the Grand Venue (3070 Los Feliz Blvd.) in Los Angeles. It begins at 4:00 P.M.
Household Names
The publishing company is the exclusive poetry press for Pulitzer Prize–winning author Percival Everett. It is also home to dozens of household names in the literary world. Authors include Afaa M. Weaver (Academy of American Poets Chancellor), John Barr (former president of the Poetry Foundation), David Mas Masumoto, Douglas Kearney, Maggie Smith, and numerous city and state poet and writer laureates across the United States.
Initiatives and Goals
The gala seeks to support Red Hen Press’s publishing initiatives and its Writing in the Schools program as well as sustain Red Hen Press’s mission to promote diversity in publishing and host literary engagement in LA schools and beyond. With funding for the arts threatened by the suspension of federal resource offices such as the National Endowment for the Arts, support is more important than ever to sustain arts and literary organizations such as Red Hen Press.
Featured Presentations
The Red Hen Publishing benefit event will include award-winning and bestselling authors Lara Ehrlich, Elise Paschen, and Adela Najarro. There will also be a spotlight on Red Hen Press’s Writing in the Schools program. Included is a five-course table-service dinner, a variety of mixed drinks, a live auction of exclusive prizes and unique experiences, as well as books and commemorative broadsides for sale.
In 31 years, Red Hen Press has published over 600 titles by underrepresented authors, with a heavy focus on unique stories and perspectives from leading and up-and-coming voices in literature. Red Hen Press is proud to be the home for queer, disabled, and BIPOC writers and readers looking to find themselves in the books they read. Red Hen Press is honored to uplift and amplify these voices to national and critical acclaim.
Table sponsorship opportunities are now available from $6,000 to $8,000. These include up to 10 tickets to the benefit seated at the same table. Plus opportunities to sit with the author table host of your choice; autographed books and broadsides; acknowledgments in the event’s tribute book and online; and a Red Hen gift bag with exclusive merchandise and books. If interested in sponsoring a full or partial table, please email Brooke Erdmann at brooke.erdmann@redhen.org.
Tickets
Individual in-person tickets are also available for $250 each, and tickets to access the livestream of the event are $50. Students and educators can take advantage of a 50% discount for livestream tickets. Please email Piper Gourley at piper.gourley@redhen.org for more information.
Red Hen Press invites supporters to be part of the organization’s quest to highlight necessary stories that deserve to be shared with the world. Visit http://www.redhen.org/benefit for further information.